February 12, 2014

Wendesday we began our eight hour drive home from Bloemfontein to Durban.  We decided to take a small detour through Golden Gate National Park.  We stopped for lunch at an artsy town named Clarens.  We had great fun walking from shop to shop and had a wonderful lunch outdoors.

We stopped at Basotho Cultural Village to learn about the people who lived in the region from 1700's to today. This is a chief and medicine doctor.  It was interesting to see the change in their dwellings as they were introduced to more modern influences.
The older huts were cooler and more efficent then the newer huts with tin roofs.  The guide said the changes were about status.

Friday night Sean and Diane from Joburg came to spend the night with us on their way to Port Edward for a short vacation.  Sean is the Southeast Public Affairs Director
They've lived in Joburg for 12 years. Sean speaks fluent French and he and his wife lived in Madagascar where he served as mission president. Sean and Diane carry out Rhino Captures several times a year, where you tag the Rhinos to discourage poachers from hunting them for their tusks.  Elder Cinquini and I are signed up for a June hunt,should be fun. 
We took a picnic dinner to the beach and watched the ocean until dark.  It was a nice visit.

Friends In Bloemfontein

Tuesday, we traveled two hours East to a lovely city named Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State providence of South Africa. It is a dry grassland area with warm days and cool nights.We had dinner and met the PA Council and the Stake Presidency.  They had some great goals set for 2014.  
 

President and Sister Grobler

Maulti Hospital Equipment Handover

Saturday, February 8th, we traveled all day to the town of Ladybrand which is near the border of Lesotho.  The Bed & Breakfast was lovely and we were the only guest (the owners live on a small farm not too far away).  Early the next morning they came to fix our breakfast.  Sunday morning we went with Elder and Sister Olson to a small branch in Leribe, Lesotho. This picture is where they are meeting now, but they have purchased some property and will be moving soon.  We enjoyed visiting and meeting the members of this small branch.  We hope to return soon.

From left: Young Women's President, Sister Olson, Primary President

The Olson's invited us to dinner that evening and told us all about their missionary adventures.  They extended their mission to 23 months and will be going home in a few weeks. 

 

Monday on our way to the hospital we stopped in Maseru, the largest city in Lesotho with a population of 227, 880 (2006).  We bought native blankets and we stopped at an orphanage where ladies weave hangings to support themselves and the orphange.  I ordered two hanging that will be ready in March.
 

After shopping we traveled further into the country to a small town up in the mountains called Mapoteng.  The Adventist Church is doing wonderful work here and the staff treated us like royalty.  They fed us lunch and gave everyone a gift. At the Handover Elder/Sister Eggett told everyone that in 1984 the church asked its members to fast one day and donate the money they would spend on those meals to a special fund for Ethiopia.  They raised 10 million dollars and Humanitarian aid was born. The church donated three pieces of eye equipment to help diagnois cataracts and glaucoma. Dr. Gutierrez said they performed 1300 operations last year.  The hospital has "cataract finders" that go into the small villages and look for people with cataracts then help them to get to the hospital which may be seven hours away. Some people have waited so long that they can barely see or completely blind. Removing the cataracts they have their full sight again.  The cost of the operation in American dollars would be $50.00.  Glaucoma is a different story because they cannot restore what has been lost,but with an early detection they can slow down the disease.  

Elder Eggett and Dr. Rodriquez

  Dr. Rodriquez from Argentina has been at the hospital for 12 years. His wife is the only OGBYN in the country. The have a saying, that if the baby starts to kick, start walking.  Women stay at the hospital until their babies are born, sometimes for months.

Dr. Gutierrez demostrating the equipment



It was a "feel good day" at Maluti Adventist Hospital



Durban Botanic Gardens

Saturday we took our walk at the Durban Botanic Gardens located in the heart of the city.  I took lots of pictures, but here are a few to enjoy.


The common name for this flower is "shower head".  It has a hard, yellow center that looks just like a shower head.

 

These are bird nest. 

Heritage Tree



Hands Monument

  When we were in LadySmith the only tourist attraction we plan to see before we left town was the Hands Monument or Burgher Monument.  LadySmith is the center of the Boar Wars and you can see reinactments of the battles.  The Hands Monument is several large cupped hands pointing to the different battle fields.  Your can google it if your interested.  So we drive the 1.5K rugged road to the top of the hill only to see a wired fence across the entrance, but it also had a step ladder over the top of the fencing so we thought we'd climb it and walk the rest of the way. There were no cars, and no people anywhere to be seen.  Just as we were climbing over the fence with our cameras a herd of antelope crossed in front of us followed by a round of gun fire.  We paused to decide what we should do next when another round of gun fire went off, so we decided to go back to our car and try it again the next time we are in town. 

New Castle

New Castle is one hour from Ladysmith, but because of 67 speed bumps it take 1 1/2 hours to drive.  We went to meet Sister Nokuthula Zikalala our Public Affairs Director in the area.  She is a fireball! She loves the church and loves giving service.  She is anxious to connect members and the church to the community.  She also has her own non-profit organization where she developes projects to help empower women.

Only 65 speed bumps to go!

Sister Nokuthula
  It was an emotional, exhausting day so we were happy to go to the flat, retire early and prepare for our drive back to Durban on Tuesday.

I never get tired of the beautiful landscape of South Africa

Day 4 Ladysmith and New Castle

We arrived in Ladysmith Sunday evening and stayed in a senior couples flat that recently finished their assisgnment and left to go  home.  The mission home is not sure when a new couple will be arriving, so they keep paying rent so as not to lose the apartment because they are hard to find. WE NEED MORE SENIOR COUPLES! 
  Our purpose was to check on a story that we had heard from some missionaries.  We received permission from the family to come and hear their story.  We met at another members house in town.  Brother Kapenda was born in The Republic of Congo(French speaking)and Sister Kapenda(Lozi, English) was born in Zambia. Brother Kapenda's father sent him to Zambia to relatives to escape the war. The couple met and married in Zambia where Brother Kapenda was a barber. They moved to South Africa to improve their lives and find work. They settled in Ladysmith and have lived their since 2009 with their three children. 
  After Bro. and Sis Kapenda joined the church (that's a story all by itself), their neighbors told them that they joined the church of the devil.  The pastor of their church went around telling people that they were witches.  This was very upsetting to the little family who lost friendships because of their new faith.  The young couple remained strong because they felt the Holy Ghost guiding them and it was making a difference in their lives. Their son Joseph was very excited about being baptized.  His father taught him everyday about the gospel to prepare him.  Joseph loved to talk about the gospel to his friends and he often brought them to church. Unfortunately, once the pastor found out he would go to the friends house and tell the parents not to let their child play with Joseph.  Joseph remained a happy boy, getting good marks in school and he especially enjoyed having the missionaries over to his house. 
  Two days before his baptism he complained of a headache to his parents who kept him home from school and gave him medication.  The headache kept getting worse and finally the next night at 2:00am the father took him to the hospital.  A few hours later Joseph was gone.  The family was in shock. They had no idea why their son had died, to this day it is a mystery.  The ward members tried to comfort them and help them the best they could.  The pastor with such hate in his heart told all the neighbors that the reason their son died was because they belonged to the devils church. Brother Kapenda knows this pastor cannot be a man of God when he treats others who are suffering so cruely.
   Three months after Joseph's death Bro. & Sis. Kapenda and their  children went to the temple to seal their family for time and all eternity.   It was a beautiful day for them. Bro. Kapenda said he could feel Joseph there with them in the temple.      
   Elder Cinquini and I could feel the hurt in his voice as he told us the story, but he said he and his wife are finding peace and the temple has given them hope for the future.  They are so grateful for the love and concern of the church members.  It has been 5 months since eight year old Joseph passed away.  When I look at his picture I can see that God has a work for him to do. Perhaps not on this earth, but where is resides with his Father in Heaven.


Joseph Kapenda
eight years old

 

 



Kapenda Family with missionary
This was the last picture taken of Joseph